Yet another project....The uncrashed spitfire
- Thread starter Mattius
- Start date
Bore is std at the mo and was hoping to keep it that way as i sourced an awesome set of pistons for £40 a set!! oversised ones are £150.
But it doesnt look like it will be spoke to machine shop today and he reacons it will need a bore.
Block goes to him on friday.
But it doesnt look like it will be spoke to machine shop today and he reacons it will need a bore.
Block goes to him on friday.
Ahaahhhaa there is more to it.
The pistons have to go anyway cause im having the block decked by 40thou to get rid of the rescessed gasket on the block to improve reliability. This however will take the tollerances on the compression ratio too high, i.e. thinkin i will be at 12:1. So the pistons are being changed to dished ones which will bring the compression back down to a mere 10:1.
The engine is all getting balanced twice, seperate and dynamically.
Block is getting acid dipped.
And the cam is getting replaced to funky ones.
More pics
engine is now stripped to just the crank and front and back plates.
cam is quite worn in places
Mains Badly worn aswell
That should be me dont think i will have to remove anything else before it goes away.
The pistons have to go anyway cause im having the block decked by 40thou to get rid of the rescessed gasket on the block to improve reliability. This however will take the tollerances on the compression ratio too high, i.e. thinkin i will be at 12:1. So the pistons are being changed to dished ones which will bring the compression back down to a mere 10:1.
The engine is all getting balanced twice, seperate and dynamically.
Block is getting acid dipped.
And the cam is getting replaced to funky ones.
More pics
engine is now stripped to just the crank and front and back plates.
cam is quite worn in places
Mains Badly worn aswell
That should be me dont think i will have to remove anything else before it goes away.
Right engine has been at machine shop for a few days now whilst i pondered piston options. Forged pistons were too tempting but eventually the financial implications persueded me off them. Engine rebuild is already gonna cost me about £700.
So i opted for these and ordered them today
American *** Dished low compression pistons, much stronger than uk spec and also will help sort out my compression ratio with the whopping skim the block is getting.
Of course i will still need custom pushrods made which will probably come from the states given that i can get a custom set of chrome alloy ones for £40!!
Quite impressive what the machinist discovered about my old pistons, they where original from 1978 and hadnt been changed, the grooves for the piston rings where twice the size they should be, the tops were badly corroded and the sides has scratches that range up to 20 thou deep, which is massive. No wonder i had no compresssion!
So back to the work that is getting done,
Block is getting a 30thou skim to get rid of the recessed gasket
Bores, bored to +19 honed out to accuratly match each piston.
Pistons weight matched
Rods Weight matched and end to end balanced.
Crank ground to +20 and tuftrided and balanced.
Flywheel lightened from 6kg to 3.5kg and balanced
Cam bearings custom made and fitted (engine not supposed to have these but every decent engine does)
Baffled sump
Dupplex Vernier Timing Chains
Kent TH5 Small journal camshaft
Kent Cam Followers
coupled with the already custom head, this should be one of the most extreme 1500 triumph engines there is.
All this work however will not give the power increases you might expect for the money, im aiming for 115bhp on stock carbs, should give 125 on delortos eventually.
However this in a car which weighs as much as most peoples engines, and it'll do 0-60 in mid to late 5s with a top end of 130mph.
God i must be mental spending all this money. But it is fun.
So i opted for these and ordered them today
American *** Dished low compression pistons, much stronger than uk spec and also will help sort out my compression ratio with the whopping skim the block is getting.
Of course i will still need custom pushrods made which will probably come from the states given that i can get a custom set of chrome alloy ones for £40!!
Quite impressive what the machinist discovered about my old pistons, they where original from 1978 and hadnt been changed, the grooves for the piston rings where twice the size they should be, the tops were badly corroded and the sides has scratches that range up to 20 thou deep, which is massive. No wonder i had no compresssion!
So back to the work that is getting done,
Block is getting a 30thou skim to get rid of the recessed gasket
Bores, bored to +19 honed out to accuratly match each piston.
Pistons weight matched
Rods Weight matched and end to end balanced.
Crank ground to +20 and tuftrided and balanced.
Flywheel lightened from 6kg to 3.5kg and balanced
Cam bearings custom made and fitted (engine not supposed to have these but every decent engine does)
Baffled sump
Dupplex Vernier Timing Chains
Kent TH5 Small journal camshaft
Kent Cam Followers
coupled with the already custom head, this should be one of the most extreme 1500 triumph engines there is.
All this work however will not give the power increases you might expect for the money, im aiming for 115bhp on stock carbs, should give 125 on delortos eventually.
However this in a car which weighs as much as most peoples engines, and it'll do 0-60 in mid to late 5s with a top end of 130mph.
God i must be mental spending all this money. But it is fun.
loads of new bits today but just boring bits like gaskets etc and a new oil pump.
Been puzzling on an idea of going a bit silly.
Anyone know where i can get a metro turbo inlet manifold????
Been desperatly trying to find one.
Been puzzling on an idea of going a bit silly.
Anyone know where i can get a metro turbo inlet manifold????
Been desperatly trying to find one.
Well the engine supplies are almost up to stock, all bearings are here, all gaskets, pistons, rings, cam shaft should be here tomorrow, timing gear is here.
Engine work was finished on saturday, just need to pick it up and pay, rebored to +20, reground crank to +20, acid dipped and the block skimmed 40thou, flywheel lightened by 2.5kg, and the whole lot dynamically balanced.
Just need to get it back paint it and start building now, which is gonna be offset by a trip to hospital for a couple more opperations.
Getting excited about it now, kinda helps to stop me thinking about the costs had to add it up, im into 800quid now for the engine, oucha! Still the engine shop guy reacons it should run at about 125bhp which is 10 more than i expected.
Just need to finish off designing the baffle in the sump, struggling to decide how low to mount it.
ignore the gun, joke on another forum.
Engine work was finished on saturday, just need to pick it up and pay, rebored to +20, reground crank to +20, acid dipped and the block skimmed 40thou, flywheel lightened by 2.5kg, and the whole lot dynamically balanced.
Just need to get it back paint it and start building now, which is gonna be offset by a trip to hospital for a couple more opperations.
Getting excited about it now, kinda helps to stop me thinking about the costs had to add it up, im into 800quid now for the engine, oucha! Still the engine shop guy reacons it should run at about 125bhp which is 10 more than i expected.
Just need to finish off designing the baffle in the sump, struggling to decide how low to mount it.
ignore the gun, joke on another forum.
Finally managed to get the camshaft i wanted, again it had to be made especially for me and cost unsurprisingly more cause of it But its very very nice, brand new cold chilled blank small journal Kent TH5 profile camshaft.
Rest of the engine has stalled yet again grrrrrrrrrrrr, was supposed to collect yesterday but another faulty part has stopped the machine work. The new small end bearings which were ordered as heavy duty race bearings appear to come from a different vehicle and would require my rods to be modified to fit. Which im not doing!! The machineshop guy refuses aswell as it will weaken the small ends. So we are hunting now for some better small end bearings for it so the engine can be finished.
Rest of the engine has stalled yet again grrrrrrrrrrrr, was supposed to collect yesterday but another faulty part has stopped the machine work. The new small end bearings which were ordered as heavy duty race bearings appear to come from a different vehicle and would require my rods to be modified to fit. Which im not doing!! The machineshop guy refuses aswell as it will weaken the small ends. So we are hunting now for some better small end bearings for it so the engine can be finished.
Well not much happening this week at all, ordered new small end bushes, hopefully these ones fit, they should do they are new old stock. Got my new cam followers ordered, decided to go with stock rather than lightened for the reasons that the engine aint really reving high enough to make benefits of them and for the added strength should i decide to add the supercharger.
New flywheel bolts ordered, quite a steal really, spitfire arp flywheel bolts 56quid, chevy small block flywheel bolts arp 10 quid.
New conrod bolts ordered, ford yb cosworth exactly the same but stronger
Gonna go through the parts manuals tomorrow night make sure i have everything ordered up to finish the engine minus the pushrods of course which will need to be measured when its built and custom ordered.
New flywheel bolts ordered, quite a steal really, spitfire arp flywheel bolts 56quid, chevy small block flywheel bolts arp 10 quid.
New conrod bolts ordered, ford yb cosworth exactly the same but stronger
Gonna go through the parts manuals tomorrow night make sure i have everything ordered up to finish the engine minus the pushrods of course which will need to be measured when its built and custom ordered.
Should be good to go, hopefully get the engine back this weekend, got the new small bushes this morning, pretty damn obvious now i have them that the old ones are wrong! They are so much smaller im worried these will be too loose. But i dont have a rod here so will take them up tomorrow to the machine shop and fingers crossed.
As my machine shop guy says, when you are pushing an old engine like this to the limits you will always come accross problems like this, lets just hope thats the last one, then the joys of building it up.
As my machine shop guy says, when you are pushing an old engine like this to the limits you will always come accross problems like this, lets just hope thats the last one, then the joys of building it up.
Just back from the machine shop deliving the new canleys small ends, canleys supplied vandervell vp which fitted perfectly as opposed to jugsaws something or other and canleys cost half as much! grrrr.
On inspection the difference was clear to see, the jigsaw ones were 20thou bigger than the perfect sized canley ones, hmmm i wander why they didnt fit!
Engine will be finished tomorrow.
On inspection the difference was clear to see, the jigsaw ones were 20thou bigger than the perfect sized canley ones, hmmm i wander why they didnt fit!
Engine will be finished tomorrow.
Can you tell im bored due to the lack of engine, my updates have doubled lol.
Seems my internet based engine rebuild and crituiqe of parts which are sub standard has annoyed a few suppliers keep getting phone calls asking why im posting that their parts dont fit etc, narked me at first but at the end of the day if your selling a part that wont work i believe people should know about it, and i dont post without having evidence. Luckily enough i do my research before fitting any part and most of that on the internet.
Seems my internet based engine rebuild and crituiqe of parts which are sub standard has annoyed a few suppliers keep getting phone calls asking why im posting that their parts dont fit etc, narked me at first but at the end of the day if your selling a part that wont work i believe people should know about it, and i dont post without having evidence. Luckily enough i do my research before fitting any part and most of that on the internet.
It is a genuine falt with the parts as confirmed by both me and the machine shop guy who is an expert, the bearings were 20thou too big by both of our measurements. It was on another forum the guy read about it but to be fair to him he has given an appologie all be it being very rude and abnoxious about the way he did it.
Chrome itself isnt really the rust inhibiting coating, its the zinc or copper plating underneath which does that, chrome is just for the shine, but your right any modern part should have been treated right.
Anyway been a busy few weeks with e-mails, i had a couple of big name magazines get in touch with me after someone gave them a photo of my wreck. Now they both want to do articles on me. Not 100% confirmed yet but it looks as if my car will be in practical classics next month just as a photo with the story following a couple of months later in a page article. Then next month march issue i think of Classics Monthly should have a 2 or 3 page story all about me from accident to restoration. Quite exciting really.
I originally refused when they got in contact, but then after thinking it really gives me a chance to thank a lot of people so should be all good.
Chrome itself isnt really the rust inhibiting coating, its the zinc or copper plating underneath which does that, chrome is just for the shine, but your right any modern part should have been treated right.
Anyway been a busy few weeks with e-mails, i had a couple of big name magazines get in touch with me after someone gave them a photo of my wreck. Now they both want to do articles on me. Not 100% confirmed yet but it looks as if my car will be in practical classics next month just as a photo with the story following a couple of months later in a page article. Then next month march issue i think of Classics Monthly should have a 2 or 3 page story all about me from accident to restoration. Quite exciting really.
I originally refused when they got in contact, but then after thinking it really gives me a chance to thank a lot of people so should be all good.
picked the lot up this morning, just waiting on the rods coming back and im sorted.
Very nicely worked crank
Skimmed and bored block, note no recessed gasket anymore
Lightened flywheel
Everyting all nice and shiny and all perfectly balanced. Came in well under budget aswell, so i decided to treat myself to a set of these:
Alloy roller rockers, very nice. and another bargain from the states.
Very nicely worked crank
Skimmed and bored block, note no recessed gasket anymore
Lightened flywheel
Everyting all nice and shiny and all perfectly balanced. Came in well under budget aswell, so i decided to treat myself to a set of these:
Alloy roller rockers, very nice. and another bargain from the states.
well fitted the cam bearings, Engine doesn normally run with these but adding them seeing as im gonna be pushing it fairly hard. you fairly have to muller them in, but they do go.
Lined up oil holes.
Old cam used as a drift
Finally we are all in
From the other side
New cam in
Block after degreasing
New cam fits in very tight though and although it spins its not free and easy, how do you loosen it up?
Lined up oil holes.
Old cam used as a drift
Finally we are all in
From the other side
New cam in
Block after degreasing
New cam fits in very tight though and although it spins its not free and easy, how do you loosen it up?
